A known control device exhibits a precontrol timer which outputs precontrol times in dependence on rotational speed and quantity of air drawn in with a particular precontrol time applying jointly to all injection valves. A lambda control operating uniformly on all cylinders is superposed on the precontrol.
In the known control device it is a problem that variations in characteristics of the different cylinders are not taken into consideration, which can lead to an individual cylinder of the internal combustion engine delivering an exhaust gas which is relatively rich in pollutants. It has been attempted up till now to keep the cylinder variations small, particularly by designing the internal combustion engine in such a manner that very similar conditions prevail in all gas paths.
A development of such a control device is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,483,300.
This control device determines a pulse time, which is effective individually for each cylinder, for metering fuel for each cylinder based on variables which are the same for each cylinder. The control device also determines multiplicative correction factors which are specific for each cylinder.